Escape hatch

ABSTRACT

A conventional worm-and-gear operated vent of a recreational vehicle is made operable as an emergency exit by attaching an emergency operating lever that may be rapidly actuated to rotate both the housing of the worm gear drive mechanism and the operating torque shaft that is driven by the mechanism. The housing is rotatably mounted, but normally latched to fix it in position. Operation of the emergency lever achieves both unlatching and rotation of the housing.

United States Patent Rapport et al.

[54] ESCAPE HATCH [72] Inventors: Jerry Rapport, Long Beach; Garold D.

Frymire, Buena Park, both of Calif.

[73] Assignee: Travel Trim & Vent C0., Compton, Calif.

[22] Filed: May 13, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 143,002

[52] U.S. Cl ..49/l4l, 49/337 [51] Int. Cl ..E05c 15/02 [58] Field ofSearch ..49/141, 23, 95, 341, 342, 343,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,050,073 1/l9l3 West..49/95 [45] July 18, 1972 1,441,358 1/1923 Lampert ..49/343 2,173,4759/1939 Forman ..49/141 2,311,967 2/1943 Sawyer ..49/l4l X 2,528,95311/1958 Gzupkaytll ..49/23 Primary Examiner-Kenneth DowneyAttorney-Gausewitz, Carr & Rothenberg 57 ABSTRACT 15 Claims, 8 DrawingFigures ESCAPE HATCH BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field oftheInvention.

This invention relates to window, vent or other closure mechanisms andparticularly concerns such arrangements that permit emergency overrideof normal operating mechanisms.

2. Description of Prior Art In the case of fire or sudden noxiousconditions within the interior of a vehicle or building, an emergencyexit is required. The usual exit door may not be available or accessiblebecause of the conditions that necessitate escape. To accommodate suchemergencies, recreational vehicles, vehicles of public transportationand habitable buildings of various types are often provided with escapeexits in the form of special or additional openings formed in a wall orceiling. These openings are provided with sealing closures that arecommonly either ruptured or detached for quick escape. There arefrequently employed detachable closure panels or readily fragmentedglass closures fixed in place to seal an emergency exit.

The common openings of such buildings and vehicles are of at least threedifferent types. Firstly, one or more doors provide common entrance andexit; secondly, a movable, usually adjustable, closure such as a windowor vent provides light and ventilation; and, thirdly, an escape exitfrequently provides no function other than emergency use.

Windows and vents are relatively slowly moveable through a variety ofindividually adjustable positions. They are not readily adapted foremergency exit because of the excessive time required to achieve fullopening. Time and effort required to operate such window or vent,particularly those of the worm-and-gear drive type, may mean, literally,the difference between life and death.

The problem of emergency exit is ofincreasing significance, particularlybecause of the explosively growing use of recreation vehicles. Fire,toxic fumes or lack of oxygen create problems within the exceedinglyconfined space of the recreation vehicle that greatly minimize timeavailable for evasive action. The usual recreation vehicle carries itsown portable cooking and heating equipment and fuel supplies. In suchvehicles, not only is the probability of occurrence of a catastropheincreased, but exit must be made even more quickly if escape is to bemade at all. The larger the number of emergency exits available, thegreater is the probability that one of these may be reached when need isgreat and time is short. The faster the operation of such emergencyexit, the better is the opportunity for safe escape.

Since it is common to provide a number of windows and vents in walls androofs of recreational vehicles, it would be a significant advantage ifone or more of these could perform a second function, namely, that ofproviding a rapid exit in case of an emergency. However, such windowsand vents that are presently known are not designed to afford this rapidemergency function, and, at best, would provide exit only upon slow andlaborious destruction of the window or vent.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide aclosure member that is readily and conveniently adjustable to provideselected light and/or ventilation and which may be rapidly opened whenrequired for emergency exit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In carrying out principles of the presentinvention in accordance with a preferred embodiment thereof, a closuremember is operated between closed and open positions by a torque shaftand a drive mechanism therefor. The drive mechanism is normally latchedto restrain rapid movement, and provision is made to unlatch themechanism and to directly move both the mechanism and the torque shaftas a unit to achieve emergency opening. In a specific embodiment, aconventional worm-and-gear drive mechanism is carried in a housing thatrotatably supports the torque shaft for rotation of a closure operator.The housing is also rotatably mounted but firmly latched in position. Anemergency operator is rotatably mounted on the torque shaft and carriescam means that unlatches the housing together with its worm-and-geardrive mechanism and, further, achieves a positive rotation of thehousing, its drive mechanism and the torque shaft for emergencyoperation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a pictorial illustration ofa portion of the roof of a vehicle having the emergency closure of thepresent invention mounted thereon;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the underside of the escape hatch of thisinvention;

FIG. 3 illustrates details of the closure operator and its connectionwith the closure;

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of most of the operating parts of theemergency actuating mechanism of the present invention;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are detailed views of the apparatus in two differentpositions; and

FIGS. 7 and 8 schematically depict the emergency operating lever andhousing, showing their relations to the latching and drive pins indifferent operating positions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Although emergency closures or escape hatches maybe mounted in any wall or other exterior structure of a building orvehicle, the arrangement shown for purposes of exposition includes aroof 10 of an emergency vehicle to which is mounted, as by hinges 12, amovable and adjustable vent 14. It should be noted that the term wall"as used herein denotes both normally vertical side or end walls and theusually horizontal roof or overhead wall of the vehicle or building. Thelocation is chosen to meet the most likely needs. In the case ofrecreational vehicles, accidents or other emergency situations thatrequire rapid egress often involve upset of the vehicle, which may cometo rest lying on its side and thus block ordinarily used exits. In sucha situation, a quick-opening emergency hatch carried in the roof of thevehicle will allow a prompt escape. For such reasons, it is preferred tolocate the escape hatch in the roof of a vehicle.

Closure 14 is preferable transparent, or at least translucent, toprovide light when it is closed. It is operated from the closed positionillustrated in FIGS. 1 and 5 to an open position, and through andbetween an unlimited number of intermediate positions, by means of aconventional worm-and-gear mechanism 16 (FIG. 5) that is controlled by amanual knob 18.

As best illustrated in the exploded view of FIG. 4, the operatingmechanism comprises a housing formed of half sections 20 and 22 in whichare journaled the ends of a bushing 24. The bushing is formed with anhexagonal surface 26 that is irrotationally received in a gear 28. Thelatter has its teeth engaged with the threads of a worm 30 that isrotatably journaled in a bore 32 formed in the two housing halfsections. Two housing mounting brackets 34, 36 are formed with slots 35,37 that receive screws, bolts or other fastening means (not shown) thatfixedly secure the housing together with the worm-and-gear mechanismcontained therein to an upstanding peripheral supporting rim 38 (FIGS. 5and 6) that circumscribes the opening upon which the closure 14 ismounted.

A torque shaft, comprising a first half section 40 extending from oneside of the housing and a second half section (not shown in FIG. 4)extending from the other side of the housing, is journaled in anaperture 41 of bracket 34 and is rotatably received in an aperture 43 ofhousing section 20. The shaft section 40 extends into bushing 24 towhich it is fixedly secured. The torque shaft section is a tight fitwithin bushing 24 and is fixed thereto by means of engagement ofinwardly projecting bushing splines 45 with one or more slots 47 formedin the inner end of the torque shaft section. The other half section ofthe torque shaft extends from the other side of the housing and isformed and secured to the other side of bushing 24 in a like manner.

The two housing halves are secured together by a suitable fasteningmeans (not shown) and thus securely mount the various operating parts inthe described relation.

Each torque shaft half section extends outwardly toward the periphery ofclosure 14 and is fixed at its outer end to a respective one of a pairof bell cranks 44 (of which only one is shown in FIGS. 5, 6) thatoperate the closure 14. As best illustrated in FIG. 3, each side ofclosure 14 is formed with a track 48 in which rides a slide 49 that ispivotally carried by the-end of the associated bell crank or closureoperator 44.

The structure illustrated and described up to this point operates as aconventional worm-and-gear driven closure-actuating mechanism, providedthat the housing 20, 22 is fixed against movement with respect to thesupport formed by the roof of the vehicle. In this conventional mode ofoperation, rotation of knob 18 rotates worm 30 which, in turn, rotatesgear 28, bushing 24 and both halves of the torque shaft about the axisof the torque shaft. The torque shaft rotates bell crank levers 44,connected to either side of the closure, which thus actuates closure 14as the lever-carried slides 49 travel in the closure tracks 48. Theconventional driving engagement .between worm and worm gear causes theclosure to be retained in any position intermediate its full opened andits full closed position, whereby the closure may be used inconventional fashion to provide an adjustable degree of ventilation.

EMERGENCY OPERATING MECHANISM To enable the above-described mechanism toperform a second function, namely, that of rapid operation for emergencyexit, the housing 20, 22, together with the worm-and-gear mechanismcontained therein, is journaled upon the torque drive shaft and anemergency or panic actuating arm or lever assembly is provided. Fornormal operation, the housing must remain fixed to the support.Accordingly, the housing is normally latched to the support againstrotation relative thereto about the axis of the torque drive shaft. Thislatching is accomplished by means ofa latching pin 50 (FIGS. 4-8) thatextends through a pair of radially extending slots 52, 54 formed inbrackets 34, 36, respectively. Housing sections 20 and 22 are formedwith first peripheral latching notches 51, 53 in which the latching pin50 is normally engaged. Thus, with pin 50 extending through the slots52, 54in the fixed brackets and confined in the peripheral recesses ornotches 51, 53 of the housing, no relative rotation of housing andbrackets can occur. Pin 50 is normally retained in this latchingrelation by means of a pair of springs 55, 56 that are connected betweenthe pin and the respective halves of the torque shaft. The springs urgethe pin 50 radially toward the inner ends of slots 52, 54 and thusretain the pin in the peripheral recesses of the housing.

A panic arm or emergency operating lever assembly comprises a pair ofarms 58, 60 each apertured as at 59, 61 to rotatably receive arespective half of the torque shaft. Suitable hand grips 62, 63 arefixed to the free ends of the respective panic arms 58,60.

The panic arms or levers 58,60 are formed with various surfaces of suchconfiguration as to achieve several operations. Upon rotation of thearms in a clockwise direction, as seen in FIGS. and 6, the arms firstunlatch the housing to free it for rotation about the axis of the torqueshaft and thereafter, upon further rotation, actually accomplishrotation of the entire housing, its contained mechanism and the torqueshafts, all about the axis of the latter. This allows the closure 14 tobe rapidly opened without relative motion or operation of theworm-and-gear drive. Thus, a single rapid rotation of the panic oremergency levers unlatches the housing and accomplishes a direct andequal rotation of the closure.

The unlatching operation is performed by a lever cam surface 65 (FIGS.4, 7) that is formed on an unlatching cam 71 and positioned to engagelatching pin 50. As the levers 58, 60 are rotated in a clockwisedirection, pin 50 engages cam surface 65 and is cammed radiallyoutwardly in its guiding slots 52, 54 against the resilient resistanceof springs 55, 56.

Levers 58, 60 are also formed with a housing drive shoulder 67 arrangedfor driving engagement with a housing drive pin 68 that is fixedlycarried in apertures 69 (FIG. 4) of the respective housing halfsections. Drive pin 68 protrudes outwardly from both sides of thehousing a distance at least sufficient to assure a firm engagement withthe housing drive shoulders of the panic levers 58, 60. Accordingly,after the levers have been rotated through an initial are sufficient toradially displace the latching pin 50 and thus free the housing forrotation about the axis of the torque shaft 40, the housing driveshoulder 67 on the panic arm engages the housing drive pin 68.

In the normal rest position of levers 58, 60, housing drive pin 68 abutsthe lower end of a drive slot 81 formed in the panic arm. Drivingshoulder 67 forms the upper end of this slot. This normal rest positionis illustrated in FIG. 5 and in solid lines in FIG. 7.

After unlatching has been accomplished, continued clockwise rotation ofpanic levers 58, 60 with housing drive shoulder 67 bearing firmlyagainst housing drive pin 68 causes rotation of the entire mechanismtoward the position illustrated in FIG. 6 and in dotted lines in FIG. 7.The housing, the worm and gear mounted therein, both halves of thetorque shaft and, of course, the bell cranks fixed to the respectiveends of the torque shaft are all directly rotated by continued rotationof the panic levers. Accordingly, a simple upward push upon the panichand grips 62, 63 (FIG. 2) will achieve a rapid and direct opening ofthe closure 14 through an angle in the order of 70 to the full openposition illustrated in FIG. 6. The total amount of opening and thetotal degree of rotation achieved through operation of the emergencyhandles are but a matter of choice or design. The mechanism readily canbe designed to allow motion of the closure to an open position of orbeyond Presuming that operation of the panic levers 58, 60 is startedwhen the worm and gear are in such a position that the closure 14 is ina full closed position, the emergency operation of the apparatus willcontinue through some 70 in the arrangement illustrated in the drawings,until the panic arms 58, 60 have moved to a position wherein the surface70 (FIG. 7) of unlatching cam 71 has passed the floating latch pin 50.The latter is then allowed to be radially retracted along slots 52, 54by the action of springs 55, 56. Until this point in the rotation, boththe panic arms 58, 60 and the housing itself, together with theremainder of the mechanism, have been rotating about the axis of thetorque shaft.

A second peripheral notch 72, 74 is formed in the respective halfsections of the housing. This second notch is positioned to receive thefloating latch pin 50 as it is drawn down past the end 70 of theunlatching cam 71. Now, the latching pin 50 is captured in the secondperipheral notch 72, 74 and once again locks the housing to preventrelative rotation of housing and mounting brackets 34, 36. This open,latched position is illustrated in dotted lines in FIG. 8, which showsthe rotation of housing 20 by the emergency operation. Accordingly, theapparatus is now latched in the position as illustrated in FIG. 6, withthe closure substantially in full open position. When latched in theopen position, the apparatus may be returned to normal closed positionby counterclockwise rotation oflevers 58, 60. In such operation, surface70 of unlatching cam 71 drives latching pin 50 from the second notch 72,74, and surface 80 of drive slot 81 engages housing drive pin 68 toachieve counterclockwise rotation of the housing.

It will be readily understood that this latching of the closure in fullopen position (as in FIG. 6) is merely an added convenience and isnormally not necessary in the functioning of the apparatus for emergencyexit. For emergency use, it is merely necessary that the apparatus becapable of rapid opening and, if necessary, may be manually retained insuch open position during a panic exit. If the worm-and-gear mechanismpreviously has been operated to at least partially open closure 14, thepanic arms, in the emergency operation, will function exactly asdescribed above except that the second peripheral notch 72, 74 of thehousing may not come into play. Accordingly, the closure will not berelatched in its substantially fully opened position. Other than thislack of relatching in open position, the rapid action remains unchanged.

lf deemed necessary or desirable, the described apparatus may beprovided with a screen 85 that includes a frame of which only the rearcross member 86 is shown in FIG. 5 The screen frame rests upon aperipheral inwardly extending flange 87 that is fixed to the supportingrim 38. The screen is not disturbed upon ordinary adjustment of theclosure by the worm and gear. However, upon emergency operation, handgrips 62, 63, or a hand that grips these handles, will contact thescreen to displace it from its normal position (which is illustrated inFIG. 5), causing the screen to move together with the closure. Forclarity of illustration, the screen is not shown in FIG. 6. To permitsuch displacement, the screen may be merely resting upon the flange 87with no attachment thereto, or with only a light, readily brokenattachment. Preferably, if a screen is to be used, it is pivoted to theflange 87 by a hinge pin 88 that permits the screen and its frame topivot upwardly from the position shown in FIG. 5. This pivotal motion isabout an axis parallel to the hinge axis of closure 14.

There has been described an improved closure operating mechanismparticularly adaptable for use as an escape hatch, which allows asubstantially conventional closure mechanism to perform the dualfunction of its conventional and normal selectively adjustable operationof the closure and, in addition, the rapid acting emergency openingrequired in a panic situation. This dual function is achieved by ahousing mechanism that is rotatably mounted but normally latched againstsuch rotation. Emergency operation is achieved by causing the paniclever, first, to unlatch the housing and the conventional operatingmechanism carried thereby and, second, to rotate the housing togetherwith its conventional mechanism to thereby provide a direct and rapidemergency operation.

The foregoing detailed description is to be clearly understood as givenby way of illustration and example only, the spirit and scope of thisinvention being limited solely by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Quick opening apparatus comprising:

a Support,

a closure member mounted to the support for motion between closed andopen positions,

a housing journaled to said support,

a torque shaft connected in driving relation to the closure member so asto move said closure member between said open and closed positions uponrotation of the shaft,

shaft drive means mounted to the housing and having a driving connectionto the shaft whereby operation of said shaft drive means will rotatesaid torque shaft to move said closure relative to said support,

latch means for selectively restraining motion of said housing relativeto said support, and

emergency operating means for disengaging said latch means to free saidhousing for motion with respect to the support, said emergency operatingmeans including means for rotating both said housing and said torqueshaft relative to the support, whereby said closure member may beoperated rapidly by said emergency operating means without operatingsaid shaft drive means.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said shaft drive means comprises 1 agear rotatably mounted in the housing and fixed to said torque shaft,and

a gear driving worm rotatably mounted in the housing and operativelyengaged with said gear, whereby upon operation of said worm said closuremay be operated to and between said opened end closed positions and toand between substantially any intermediate portion thereof, and saidclosure may be retained in any one of said positrons.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said journaled connection of saidhousing to said support comprises said torque shaft and means forrotatably mounting said torque shaft to said support and to saidhousing, whereby said torque shaft may rotate relative to both saidsupport and housing upon operation of said worm when said latch means isengaged to restrain motion of said housing and may rotate together withsaid housing relative to said support when said latch means isdisengaged.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said latch means comprises a notchformed in the periphery of said housing,

a guide in said support extending radially of said torque shaft andhaving at least a portion thereof in registry with said notch when saidhousing is in a first position thereof,

a latch pin mounted in said guide for radial motion relative to saidtorque shaft and extending into and captured within said notch when saidhousing is in said first position thereof, and

said means for urging said latch pin along said guide into said notch,said emergency operating means including cam means for driving saidlatch pin along said guide from said notch upon motion of said operatingmeans, to thereby free said housing for pivotal motion with respect tosaid support about the axis of said torque shaft.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 including an emergency drive surface on saidhousing,

said emergency operating means including means for engaging saidemergency drive surface to effect rotation of said housing about theaxis of said torque shaft upon operation of said emergency operatingmeans.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said emergency operating meanscomprises a lever journaled for rotation about the axis of said torqueshaft,

and wherein said cam means comprises a cam shoulder on the lever forengagement with said latch pin to drive said latch pin from said notchupon rotation of said lever about the axis of said torque shaft.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said means for engaging saidemergency drive surface includes a housing drive shoulder on said leverpositioned adjacent to but spaced from said emergency drive surface whensaid lever cam shoulder is in contact with said latch pin, whereby uponrotation of said lever the latch pin will be driven from said notch bysaid cam shoulder before engagement of said housing drive shoulder withsaid emergency drive surface, and whereby upon further rotation of saidlever engagement of said housing drive shoulder thereof with saidemergency drive surface will rotate the housing together with the torqueshaft relative to the support.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said housing is formed with a secondnotch in the periphery thereof for receiving said latch pin after saidhousing has been rotated by said emergency operating means to a secondposition wherein said torque shaft has actuated said closure member toan open position thereof, whereby when said housing is in said secondposition said latch pin is urged radially inwardly into said secondnotch of said housing to thereby latch said housing, said torque shaftand said closure member in such position. v

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein at least one of said lever and saidhousing includes a peripheral surface that engages said latch pin whenthe latter has been driven from said first notch and that retains saidlatch pin in said radially displaced position until said housing hasbeen rotated through an angle sufficient to substantially open saidclosure member.

10. A quick opening closure assembly comprising a frame having anopening therethrough of a size sufficient to allow emergency egress,

a closure member pivoted to said frame for movement between a firstposition in which said opening is blocked and a second position in whichsaid opening is unblocked by an amount at least sufficient to permitsuch emergency egress,

a pair of brackets fixed to the frame,

a torque shaft journaled in said brackets,

said torque shaft having a driving connection to said closure memberwhereby upon rotation of said torque shaft said closure member ispivoted between said positions thereof,

a housing journaled on said torque shaft between said brackets,

a drive mechanism carried by said housing and including a gear fixed tosaid torque shaft and a manually operable worm in driving engagementwith said gear,

a latch mechanism interconnecting at least one of said brackets and saidhousing to restrain rotation of the housing about the axis of saidtorque shaft, and

an emergency operating lever journaled on said torque shaft fordisengaging said latch mechanism and rotating both said housing andtorque shaft about the axis of said shaft, whereby emergency opening ofsaid closure member may be accomplished without operation of saidworm-andgear drive mechanism and regardless of said worm-andgear drivemechanism by rotation of said emergency operating lever to rotate saidhousing, said torque shaft and said closure member.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said latch mechanism comprises aguide slot in said one bracket extending radially of said torque shaft,

a pin mounted for movement within said slot,

a spring connected to urge said pin radially inwardly of said torqueshaft, and

an outwardly opening peripheral notch in said housing,

said notch being in registry with the radially inward end of said slotand receiving said pin when said housing is in a first position thereofwith respect to said one bracket, whereby the spring tends to retain thepin within the peripheral notch of the housing to prevent relativerotation between the housing and said one bracket.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said emergency operating leverincludes a cam shoulder formed on the periphery thereof for engagementwith said pin to force said pin from said peripheral notch when saidemergency operating lever is rotated,

13. the apparatus of claim 12 including a drive pin extending from saidhousing in a direction substantially parallel with the axis of saidtorque shaft,

and wherein said emergency operating lever includes a drive shoulderpositioned to engage said drive pin after the emergency operating leverhas been rotated through a relatively small distance sufficient to causesaid cam shoulder to force said latch pin from said peripheral notch,whereby the housing will be rotated by means of engagement of saidemergency operating lever drive shoulder with said drive pin after saidhousing has been unlatched.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said housing has a second radiallyoutwardly opening peripheral notch to receive said latch pin after thelatter has been driven from said first notch and after the housing hasbeen rotated by means of said emergency operating lever through an anglesufficient to rotate said torque shaft and move said closure member toits second position.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 including a screen mounted in said openingfor pivotal motion about an axis parallel to the pivot axis of saidclosure member, whereby rotation of said emergency operating lever torotate said closure member will cause said lever or a hand gripping saidlever to contact said screen and to rotate said screen together withsaid closure member.

1. Quick opening apparatus comprising: a support, A closure membermounted to the support for motion between closed and open positions, ahousing journaled to said support, a torque shaft connected in drivingrelation to the closure member so as to move said closure member betweensaid open and closed positions upon rotation of the shaft, shaft drivemeans mounted to the housing and having a driving connection to theshaft whereby operation of said shaft drive means will rotate saidtorque shaft to move said closure relative to said support, latch meansfor selectively restraining motion of said housing relative to saidsupport, and emergency operating means for disengaging said latch meansto free said housing for motion with respect to the support, saidemergency operating means including means for rotating both said housingand said torque shaft relative to the support, whereby said closuremember may be operated rapidly by said emergency operating means withoutoperating said shaft drive means.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 whereinsaid shaft drive means comprises a gear rotatably mounted in the housingand fixed to said torque shaft, and a gear driving worm rotatablymounted in the housing and operatively engaged with said gear, wherebyupon operation of said worm said closure may be operated to and betweensaid opened end closed positions and to and between substantially anyintermediate portion thereof, and said closure may be retained in anyone of said positions.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein saidjournaled connection of said housing to said support comprises saidtorque shaft and means for rotatably mounting said torque shaft to saidsupport and to said housing, whereby said torque shaft may rotaterelative to both said support and housing upon operation of said wormwhen said latch means is engaged to restrain motion of said housing andmay rotate together with said housing relative to said support when saidlatch means is disengaged.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein saidlatch means comprises a notch formed in the periphery of said housing, aguide in said support extending radially of said torque shaft and havingat least a portion thereof in registry with said notch when said housingis in a first position thereof, a latch pin mounted in said guide forradial motion relative to said torque shaft and extending into andcaptured within said notch when said housing is in said first positionthereof, and said means for urging said latch pin along said guide intosaid notch, said emergency operating means including cam means fordriving said latch pin along said guide from said notch upon motion ofsaid operating means, to thereby free said housing for pivotal motionwith respect to said support about the axis of said torque shaft.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 4 including an emergency drive surface on saidhousing, said emergency operating means including means for engagingsaid emergency drive surface to effect rotation of said housing aboutthe axis of said torque shaft upon operation of said emergency operatingmeans.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said emergency operatingmeans comprises a lever journaled for rotation about the axis of saidtorque shaft, and wherein said cam means comprises a cam shoulder on thelever for engagement with said latch pin to drive said latch pin fromsaid notch upon rotation of said lever about the axis of said torqueshaft.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said means for engaging saidemergency drive surface includes a housing drive shoulder on said leverpositioned adjacent to but spaced from said emergency drive surface whensaid lever cam shoulder is in contact with said latch pin, whereby uponrotation of said lever the latch pin will be driven from said notch bysaid cam shoulder before engagement of said housing drive shoulder withsaid emergency drive surface, and whereby upon further rotation of saidlever engagement of said housing drive shoulder thereoF with saidemergency drive surface will rotate the housing together with the torqueshaft relative to the support.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein saidhousing is formed with a second notch in the periphery thereof forreceiving said latch pin after said housing has been rotated by saidemergency operating means to a second position wherein said torque shafthas actuated said closure member to an open position thereof, wherebywhen said housing is in said second position said latch pin is urgedradially inwardly into said second notch of said housing to therebylatch said housing, said torque shaft and said closure member in suchposition.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein at least one of said leverand said housing includes a peripheral surface that engages said latchpin when the latter has been driven from said first notch and thatretains said latch pin in said radially displaced position until saidhousing has been rotated through an angle sufficient to substantiallyopen said closure member.
 10. A quick opening closure assemblycomprising a frame having an opening therethrough of a size sufficientto allow emergency egress, a closure member pivoted to said frame formovement between a first position in which said opening is blocked and asecond position in which said opening is unblocked by an amount at leastsufficient to permit such emergency egress, a pair of brackets fixed tothe frame, a torque shaft journaled in said brackets, said torque shafthaving a driving connection to said closure member whereby upon rotationof said torque shaft said closure member is pivoted between saidpositions thereof, a housing journaled on said torque shaft between saidbrackets, a drive mechanism carried by said housing and including a gearfixed to said torque shaft and a manually operable worm in drivingengagement with said gear, a latch mechanism interconnecting at leastone of said brackets and said housing to restrain rotation of thehousing about the axis of said torque shaft, and an emergency operatinglever journaled on said torque shaft for disengaging said latchmechanism and rotating both said housing and torque shaft about the axisof said shaft, whereby emergency opening of said closure member may beaccomplished without operation of said worm-and-gear drive mechanism andregardless of said worm-and-gear drive mechanism by rotation of saidemergency operating lever to rotate said housing, said torque shaft andsaid closure member.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said latchmechanism comprises a guide slot in said one bracket extending radiallyof said torque shaft, a pin mounted for movement within said slot, aspring connected to urge said pin radially inwardly of said torqueshaft, and an outwardly opening peripheral notch in said housing, saidnotch being in registry with the radially inward end of said slot andreceiving said pin when said housing is in a first position thereof withrespect to said one bracket, whereby the spring tends to retain the pinwithin the peripheral notch of the housing to prevent relative rotationbetween the housing and said one bracket.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11wherein said emergency operating lever includes a cam shoulder formed onthe periphery thereof for engagement with said pin to force said pinfrom said peripheral notch when said emergency operating lever isrotated.
 13. the apparatus of claim 12 including a drive pin extendingfrom said housing in a direction substantially parallel with the axis ofsaid torque shaft, and wherein said emergency operating lever includes adrive shoulder positioned to engage said drive pin after the emergencyoperating lever has been rotated through a relatively small distancesufficient to cause said cam shoulder to force said latch pin from saidperipheral notch, whereby the housing will be rotated by means ofengagement of said emergency operating lever drive shoulder with sAiddrive pin after said housing has been unlatched.
 14. The apparatus ofclaim 13 wherein said housing has a second radially outwardly openingperipheral notch to receive said latch pin after the latter has beendriven from said first notch and after the housing has been rotated bymeans of said emergency operating lever through an angle sufficient torotate said torque shaft and move said closure member to its secondposition.
 15. The apparatus of claim 10 including a screen mounted insaid opening for pivotal motion about an axis parallel to the pivot axisof said closure member, whereby rotation of said emergency operatinglever to rotate said closure member will cause said lever or a handgripping said lever to contact said screen and to rotate said screentogether with said closure member.